It's My Sixth Gotcha Day! | Lola The Rescued Cat
Monday, January 16, 2017

It's My Sixth Gotcha Day!

Hello and Happy Monday! Do you know what today is? Go ahead, take a guess. OK… never mind… let me just tell you. Today is my gotcha day! Six years ago today I came home to live with Mommy and Lexy. Six whole years – I can’t believe how time flies. I don’t have a ton of pictures of me during that time, so I have to use the same photos every year.  I really hope you don’t mind. 

OK, so my adoption journey has three parts. It all began on January 6, 2011 when I was rescued from the shelter.  Here’s what I wrote in my diary that day: 

“Today was an exciting day! A worker came to my cage to take me out and put me in a box. I got real scared because I thought I was going to be put to sleep.  I couldn’t see out of the box so I didn’t know what was going on.  I heard a lot of humans talking, and the next thing I knew I was in a car.  Imagine that! A car! A little while later I finally got to come out of the box and I couldn’t believe it – I was in a different doctor’s office.  “Oh boy, here we go again” I thought. I looked up – and there was the lady that was asking about me yesterday!” 

It was so good to be out of the shelter, even though I was a little confused. 

The second part of my journey is probably my favorite, and that’s the day I met Mommy. Before I tell you about that, let me share a little something she wrote on Facebook on January 7, 2011. 


Photo courtesy Janice Rossel



“This is Lola, who was abandoned in a garbage dumpster in Manhattan. She was rescued by Leslie Kaufman, who is a saint! She has a bad cold, hence the nose irritation. Lola needs a good, loving home. I may consider adopting her, but I have Lexy to consider as well. I can't have her getting sick on me. If you're interested in Lola, please contact Leslie.” 

On January 9, 2011 I wrote this in my diary: 

“A lady named Dawn came to visit me today. I was very excited and I tried to look stunning, but this was the best I could do: 



I laid on the charm though! I gave her snuggles and the silent meow (well, I don’t have any other meow besides the silent meow; I hope my voice comes back some day) and was just the sweetest little thing. She commented on how skinny I am (which made her very sad) and she said how much she loves my long elegant tail. She said “I had to meet you to see if I thought you would get along with my Lexy. I would love to give you a home if they will let me. She wants to be my new mom!” 



Mommy originally said she was "considering" adopting me, but she fell in love with me as soon as she laid eyes on me - even though my nose was raw and when I breathed snot bubbles came out of my nose. She saw the cuteness under all of that! (I knew I had her wrapped around my paw when I rubbed my snotty nose on her and she didn't mind.) 

And of course, part three is the day I came home forever; January 16, 2011. Here’s my diary entry: 

“This was the most exciting day ever! When Mommy came to pick me up she came with her boyfriend, Will, and he’s a nice guy. (And if he came with her, that means he likes cats!) When Mommy was standing at the reception desk, she heard a cat meowing and meowing. She looked around, but there were no other cats there. “Is that Lola?” she asked and was so surprised to find out I could meow again! And you won’t believe this… a lady named Julie was there, and when she heard my name, she said “Is that Lola The Rescued Cat?” She knew who I was!" 

"When we got to my new home, I smelled a cat but I didn’t have a chance to see it because Will rushed me off to the bathroom. I’m still sick, so I have to be separated for a while. Wow, I can’t believe I have my own bed, and I can walk around and not have to live in a cage anymore. I lived in a cage for 31 days and it wasn’t fun. Tonight when I sleep in my bed I’m going to pray for all the cats on death row to be saved just like I was.” 


I was thinking of a great way to celebrate, and I decided to have a comment-thon! For every comment on this post, and on the post pinned to the top of our Facebook page (between today and January 31), I’m going to donate 50 cents to Abandoned Angels Cat Rescue. Miss Lynda (who rescued our friend, Shiloh), runs a one woman operation. Shiloh's mom runs the Facebook page, and there are a few fosters. Other than that she does it all on her own.  She takes all the calls and emails to her her address, goes to the person/cat who is in need to assess the situations, and decides what and how AACR can help. She takes the photos and creates the Craig's List and Petfinder ads, networks within the community to find help, and also to see who she can help. And...  she coordinates the spay/neuter and all vetting and medical needs for the cats. That's a lot of work for one person! We always support AACR and love to help them when we can. 

Please join me in my celebration by sharing my post so I can raise a lot of money for Abandoned Angels Cat Rescue! 

And if you'd like to read more of my diary, you can purchase it on Amazon. We donate ten percent of our earnings to animal rescue and shelters. 
Lola
Disclosure: This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase our book through the link we make a small commission to buy a can of cat food! 

Would you like to comment?

  1. Lola, That is a great rescue, gotcha day story! You are one lucky girl!

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  2. Happy gotcha day, Lola! You have an awesome rescue story - no wonder it became a book!

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  3. A very special day for you, and your "Mother", indeed!
    You were very lucky. And I'm sure your Mistress doesn't regret she adopted you.

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  4. Happy Gotcha Day dear Lola. The day we are rescued and brought home is a day that we can never ever forget or cease to be grateful for.

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  5. I enjoyed reading your diary entries and reading about your rescue story. You're such a special girl. It's so nice of your mom to make a donation to Abandoned Angels Cat Rescue. We're off to check them out next. Happy gotcha day, Lola! We love you!

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  6. HAPPY Gotcha Day!!! It is a wonderful story and we love seeing rescues like yours!!

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  7. Happy Gotcha Day, sweet Lola! We are so glad you were gotcha'd into the purrfect home by your awesome Mom. Paws up for your commentathon. We hope it is a huge success. We will share on Twitter now!

    Hugs!

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  8. Aww... what a story. Happy Gotcha Day! Glad you found your forever home. I was rescued in 2011 too, but in July. I was a tiny 10 week old kitten and found the purrfect Mum like you.

    Purrs xx
    Athena

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  9. You are so brave and have come such a long way, Lola! You really are a hero in the eyes of rescuers, advocating for kitties in need and bringing awareness for rescue cats! We love and appreciate you so much and appreciate your support! Love, Shiloh, Miss Lynda and Jan and the McFluffersons!

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  10. Happy Gotcha Day, beautiful Lola! You are one lucky kitty for sure! We can definitely see why your mom fell in love with you - what a cutie! Glad you found your furever home - and a pawesome one at that! Have a great day celebrating!!!

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  11. Happy Gotcha Day beautiful girl. AACR is a wonderful rescue and it's so nice of you to help their kitties find forever homes.

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  12. Happy Gotcha Day! Gosh, you sure look thin in those pictures. Bet you were hungry and the cold must not have been any fun. I'm so happy your mom adopted you and now shares your life and adventures will all of us. Have a wonderful day celebrating! I'm going to share your post now.

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  13. Oh, my cat, Lola! You were a scrawny little thing! And so, so cute! Love is pretty amazing isn't it? People like to say it blinds us ... but I think it allows us to see the heart of other living things no matter what they might look like on the surface (but again ... you WERE and ARE cute). This is a happy day, so we'll just let karma get whatever people were responsible for how you were found. Happy Gotcha Day, Lola!
    ps - For some reason your Mom's description of you following her and asking to be picked up really struck a cord with me ... that's love and vulnerability and it's truly beautiful. Bear and I are just like that and it saved my life.

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    1. Miss Kat, I'm glad my story made you smile. Mommy always asks me if I want her to put me in her pocket and carry me around. I would love that, but I can't fit! MOL

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  14. Happy 6th Gotcha Day my beautiful niece! I cannot believe it's been 6 years since I saw your Mommy's post and followed your amazing story. You've come a long way since those days, helping so many others by sharing your story through your page, blog, and book, I am so proud of you.
    As you know this has been a sad time for us losing Clove so unexpectedly a few weeks ago. FIP is a horrid disease and we are committed to helping raise awareness and to find a cure. Thank you for your sweet post and shout out for her, it meant a lot to me and I always felt better knowing you guys would have given her a home if anything ever happened to me. We love you and appreciate you being loyal friends. Smooches on a happy Gotcha Day full of fun and love and getting tons of comments to help out Shiloh's pawesome rescue,
    Auntie Beth & Kaspars

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  15. Oh sweetie, what a beautiful story. The most beautiful part of course was you getting rescued by your human. We're so happy you were gotted - otherwise we would not know you.

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  16. That is a most wonderful gotcha story. Happy Gotcha Day Lola from all us us!

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  17. We're so happy for you, Lola! You have a wonderful mommy! -Zoe, Alfie and Daisy

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  18. Happy Gotcha Day, Lola. You sure were lucky to be rescued and to get such a great Mom. We hope you raise lots and lots of money with your comment-a-thon. XOCK, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Angel Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth, Calista Jo and Cooper Murphy.

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  19. What a great gotcha story, Lola. You and your mom both were lucky that day. Happy Gotcha Day! And what a pawsome way to celebrate.

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  20. Happy Birthday and Gotcher Day and Celebration Day Lola, hurrah for you Mom too!

    We hope your day is a fabulous one!

    Harvey and Marjorie at
    Dash Kitten

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  21. You precious little angel, Lola. I'm so very thankful your wonderful mom adopted you and chose to share you with the world. I hope you're having the bestest day ever. (Tell your mom that I have the same phone as her in the second picture! She's probably upgraded since then... I haven't LOL)

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  22. Happy Gotcha day, Lola ! Prayers for all the other kitties too.

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  23. Happy Gotcha Day sweetie!
    Have a super week...

    Noodle and crew

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  24. Oh WoW!!!
    This is a exciting DAY!!! Mes must sings yous the song!
    *•.¸¸♪♫•Happy Gottcha day to you ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪♫•¸¸.•*
    ¨*•♫♪ Happy Gottcha day to you ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪♫•
    ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Happy Gottcha day Dear Zoey!!!!! ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪♫•
    ¸¸.•*¨*•♫♪ Happy Gottcha day to you! ♪♫•*¨*•.¸¸♪♫•
    And Many More!!!!!!
    Kisses
    Nellie

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  25. It's totally worth while to rescue any cat. Specially an incredibly sweet one like Lola

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  26. lola....we bee off line yestur day sew heerz sum bee lated best fishes, mice creem dishez & happee day wizhes for ewe....♫♪♫♪ we hope yur day total lee rocked, hope ya getted 17 new cat treez, hope ya had sum cake N heerz two a yeer a head filled with happee nezz & health ~~~~~~ waves two lexy ♥♥♥♥♥

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  27. Aww, Happy Gotcha Day, Lola! You ended up with the perfect mommy and sister. (And thanks to your mommy for hosting a commentathon!)

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  28. Oh Lola, we're so sorry we're late. Furst Happy gotchaday gawjus. We are so glad we're furiends. And secondly, you were always bootyful. We're so fankful you got gotted. Big hugs fur a purrfect month and da rest of your life.

    Luv ya'

    Dezi and Raena

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  29. Happy Gotcha Day Lola! I can see you've already made a bunch of green papers for your friend. I'm glad you're not sick anymore and are "living the high life" of a blogging cat.

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  30. I hope your comment-thon is super successful. Happy Gotcha Day! I'm sure you were adorable despite being sick.

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  31. Happy Gotcha Day, beautiful! I love the "Comment-thon" idea — what a great way to commemorate the day! So glad you found a loving home.

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  32. You really look a sorry sight don't you, in that first picture. Poor Lola, we are sharing your Gotcher day worldwide!!!

    * High Paw *

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  33. Happy 6th Gotcha day - you've come such a long way from kittenhood. You are so lucky you found the mom you did and such a loving home.

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  34. Hi Lola. We have never visited you before but we love your rescue story and wanted to wish you a very Happy Gotcha Day. We hope there will be many, many more.

    Purrs,
    The Chans (4 Abyssinians in France)

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  35. Happy gotcha day Lola! What a great rescue story. Thank you for sharing with us!

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  36. Happy super duper awesome gotcha day Lola!! Your rescue story is so wonderfully informative, you're such a sweetie! Thank you for helping out Abandoned Angels Cat Rescue!

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  37. Happy Gotcha Day! I'm so glad that you and your mommy met. You are a beautiful girl, Lola. It is hard to believe that someone just abandoned you. *hugs* Congrats on having a forever home for 6 years and doing so much to help other kitties!

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  38. This is such a delightful post! I so enjoyed reading Lola's adoption story, it's wonderful. I love that you are raising some money via comments from readers! What a great idea. Lola was one lucky kitty to have found you!
    Love & Biscuits,
    Dogs Luv Us and We Luv Them

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  39. Happy Gotcha Day! My favorite line in this story is: “A lady named Dawn came to visit me today. I was very excited and I tried to look stunning, but this was the best I could do" - oh you look so sweet and excited to meet your Mom! I love hearing gotcha stories and this one is really special.

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  40. Happy Gotcha Day and we are so happy you were one of the lucky ones to find a loving home

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  41. Happy Gotcha Day! I'm so glad that your mom couldn't resist your charm and adopted you! It is wonderful that you are celebrating by giving back to other cats.

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  42. I loved hearing your story. Gotcha days are better then birthdays I think. I am so happy you habe a new family and home and that your meow came back. Happy Gotcha Day sweetheart.

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  43. I can't believe Lola was abandoned in a dumpster. Heatbreaking. Thank goodness she found a great forever home. Happy Gotcha Day!

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  44. Happy Gotcha day Lola!

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  45. Lola, I feel sick in my mouf that you were dumped, but I'm so very happy you have a wonderpurr Forever Home. I wish every fur out there could have a blessed life like we do. Purrrs! Herman!!!

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Thank you for your comment! We love meowing with you!